FIFA, Visa Confirm Talks Of Sponsorship Extension; Call Reports Premature

Visa and FIFA "have confirmed talks have been held over extending the company’s top-tier sponsorship of world football’s governing body, but have denied reports a new deal has been agreed through to the 2022 World Cup," according to SOCCEREX. Visa signed its current deal with FIFA in June '07 and it is due to run through '14, taking in the World Cup in Brazil. Media reports last week stated that the company had reached an eight-year extension to the partnership valued at more that $170M. However, Visa and FIFA said that these reports are premature. In a joint statement the two organizations said: "The partnership between FIFA and Visa has been an effective component of the global marketing activities for both organisations since 2007. While both FIFA and Visa greatly value this relationship and have been in discussions regarding the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups, we have no official news to share at this point in time" (SOCCEREX, 4/9).